Is leadership getting worse?

I have been fortunate enough to have had wonderful, authentic, inspirational leaders to learn from throughout my life.?My own parents, my school teachers, sports coaches, and various bosses at work all had traits I could mimic, and they all taught and demonstrated the key attributes of great leadership.?I have also lived through an era of selfless, talented world leaders; true statesmen and women with both intellect and integrity.

However, more recently, some of the leaders I have experienced, both in business and in global politics, seem to have lacked those basic skills, and it got me wondering why. ?

To be a leader, one surely needs to have followers.?And to get, and to retain, these followers, one either need to be liked, respected, or feared. The first two work, the latter does not - as is evidenced by many dictatorships around the world. ?

True leadership is not about power or control, it is about service.?Service to those around you, your colleagues, your team, the organisation itself.?Offering, when needed, support, inspiration, motivation, development opportunities while keeping a helicopter view on the landscape.?Great leaders do not necessarily have better skills than their colleagues, merely different ones.?It is unlikely that the CEO will be a better accountant than the FD, a better marketer than the marketing director, have more technical knowledge than the COO or the CTO, or have a great grip on employment law than the HRD - and certainly it is highly improbable that they will possess all this skill and experience.?So, the role of a leader is mainly to meld this team together, to produce a whole which is greater than the sum of its parts, and to get them working together as a well-oiled machine.

So why have the basic skills of good leadership declined recently??Or perhaps it is not that recent??Perhaps the baby boom generation, coming as they did out of an era of military-like leadership, put more store in developing leadership qualities?

In my opinion, young professionals are far better informed than they ever used to be.?The shrinking of the globe thanks to the internet has produced a far more knowledgable community, which has possibly led to a feeling that input from teachers, bosses, parents and other influencers are less important, less necessary??Or could it be that there is less emphasis put on training now??Companies unwilling to develop their workforce due to cost constraints??Or perhaps it is that there are so many start-up companies now where the leader has never had a boss to learn from??Many entrepreneurs are exceptional leaders - I experienced many when at the IoD - but there are some who are not.?Some of this latter group recognise that failing in themselves, and strive to improve.?Many do not.

It is critical that we develop leaders of the future, because for the sake of the economy and the globe, countries and companies need to be led like they have never been led before.?Education will play a key part in this development, but companies also need to recognise the importance of leadership, and to invest in training not just on technical skills, but on emotional intelligence, respect, communication and gratitude. ?

Having learned much of any skill I might possess on the sports field, I can say with certainty that great rugby teams have 15 leaders on the field.?Companies and political parties could perhaps look to mimic that ideal?

#leadership